Bar & Bench first reported that Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has streamlined its complex internal structure that was first launched in September 2015.

Legally India has confirmed the development but understands the process of national practice heads is not yet complete.

The firm has reduced its 15-odd administrative committees to only three, and appointed new national practice heads, with regional practice area heads SR Patnaik (in tax) and Nisha Uberoi (in competition law) becoming national heads in those practice areas.

With the impending departure of corporate partner Ashwath Rau to AZB & Partners with three other partners, a reshuffle was inevitable: Rau was on three of the old administrative committees, co-head of the national corporate practice, and Mumbai-region investment funds head (there was no Delhi investment funds head).

Vishwanathan to take over capital markets chair from Cyril

Managing partner Cyril Shroff and projects partner L Vishwanathan remain chairs of the practices, though Vishwanathan has taken over from Shroff as chair of capital markets, and continues as chair of banking, projects.

Shroff continues as chair of corporate, tax, competition, financial regulatory practice (FRP), private client practice (PCP), real estate, intellectual property (under the 2015 structure Shroff was nominally chair of general corporate, capital markets and dispute resolution).

Vishwanathan is one of the most senior and experienced non-family partners at Cyril Amarchand, running a strong independent profit centre in his project finance practice (similar to Rau, who has left with his team of three partners).

New national practice heads

• Reeba Chacko has become head of general corporate, which under the old structure was chaired by Cyril Shroff (who continues in that role), with co-heads Rau, Harry Chawla (in Delhi) and Chacko.
• Santosh Jankiram is now heading up projects, having previously been co-headed with partner Jay Cheema. The chair of the practice remains partner L Vishwanathan.
• Yash Ashar now heads capital markets, which was previously co-headed by Ashar and Bangalore partner Arjun Lall. The chair is now Vishwanathan, having previously been chaired by Cyril Shroff.

3 regional practices become national

• Nisha Kaur Uberoi (Mumbai) now heads competition nationally, which was previously only a regional structure practice area.
• SR Patnaik (Delhi) heads tax, which was previously also a regional practice area.
• Ipsita Dutta (Mumbai) has become head of the financial regulatory practice (FRP), which was previously also a regional practice.

All three of those areas, when they were created as regional in September 2015, were missing a second head at the time in their respective locations.

Internally leaner

In 2015, Cyril Amarchand had announced a grand total of 15 committees, which spanned partner promotions, conflicts, technology strategy, regional executive committees, young partners, young leaders and a prevention of sexual harassment committee.

Those have now been scrapped and replaced with a much leaner structure of three overarching committees:

• Core Advisory

  • L Vishwanathan
  • Reeba Chacko

• Markets and Clients

  • Yash Ashar
  • Nisha Kaur Uberoi
  • Arjun Lall
  • Ipsita Dutta
  • Harry Chawla
  • Rishabh Shroff

• Talent and Remuneration

  • Leena Chacko
  • Gauri Rasgotra
  • Nivedita Rao
  • VP Singh
  • Rishabh Shroff

Photo by Albert Bridge